The Quill: News from Surfside

Meet an alien from a planet whose inhabitants come in three sexes, a Maryland ship-owner smuggling slaves to the north in the years before the American Civil War, or a young man searching for butterflies who discovers the mysteries of Asia. Hear about a bigamous scoundrel in a small Pennsylvania town at the start of the nineteenth century, love letters between a young couple separated in the years before and during World War II sharing their lives in ink, and a strong, sassy woman finding modern day love and a medieval princess surviving in a male-dominated society. Those characters mingle in the air of our conversations when their creators and writers get together at SCWA Surfside Chapter meetings. Oh, and let’s not forget the spiders who slip through a portal in Maine to devour human prey.

The Surfside Chapter is one of many writers’ groups dotting the state within the South Carolina Writers Association. We are small in numbers at Surfside, but big in imagination. We have writers at all stages of their writing journeys working in a variety of genres. Short stories, we have them. Long family sagas, yes, we have them as well. Some of our authors create a series of books because their characters have too much to say and do to be constrained to just 80,000 words. We share stories of horror, fantasy, fiction, and non-fiction. We support each other as caring people as well as imaginative writers.

The Surfside chapter is preparing to launch a series of public presentations entitled “Everybody has a story.” We welcome new members wherever they are along their writer journey. Are you just getting started? We can help guide you—if you have that great novel in mind, or wish to write about family legends to share only with your children and grandchildren. Further along on that journey? We are supportive cheerleaders and can offer advice from those among us farther down our shared path.

Anyone in the greater Myrtle Beach area wanting to know more about this writer’s group and the benefits of joining us in Surfside, please contact me or check out our Facebook page. We usually meet the first and third Saturday of each month, 10 am at the Surfside Library, as the library’s schedule allows.